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From Bloomsbury to Britain's Got Talent, it was four yeses for one UCL student
17 May 2017
From Bollywood dancing on campus to being watched by millions on Britain's Got Talent, one UCL student's talent has been given a national stage.
Aniket Bharadwaj, a third-year medical student, was scouted
to join the London School of Bollywood after a performance at UCL's Logan Hall
last year. The Bollywood team recently auditioned for Britain's Got Talent (BGT) with a unique performance twist. "We got four yeses, three standing ovations and amazing
comments from the judges," says Aniket.
Breaking down boundaries
Their dance challenged the gender stereotypes of Bollywood (normally a male and female protagonist) by telling a new story with a gender-fluid lead performer.
"The message of our dance breaks boundaries and to introduce gender fluidity into Bollywood is something that has never been done before," explains Aniket.
The London School of Bollywood is now through to the next round of competition for BGT and has gathered a large number of supporters.
"We've had so many fan mails from people saying 'this is
inspiring,' we've had emails from India with people being like 'can we join
your team?' And LGBT support groups have messaged us saying they're so proud,"
says Aniket.
Aniket is by no means new to the world of Bollywood and performing and has been working hard to get himself into the scene of London singing, acting and dancing by embracing all opportunities at UCL.
"I've been doing Bollywood and dance shows over the past three years of my pre-clinical degree, any show that I can get involved in at UCL, I've done it.
"The Medical School talks about being holistic, a UCL doctor is holistic in the care of the patient not just addressing the scientific or physiological part of treatment, being part of shows and dance teams has taught me a lot about understanding people along with nurturing my own personality to be well rounded," Aniket explains.
Aniket would appreciate any support from the UCL community as his team goes into the next round of BGT. You can follow Aniket's progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and keep an eye out for his next performance on Britain's Got Talent.
Watch the London School of Bollywood's performance on Britain's Got Talent
Amy Holmes, UCL Communications and Marketing
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